About Me

Monday, November 19, 2007

This song struck me the first time I heard it years and years ago.I didn't realize how the section in blue would apply to today...especially with theGlobal Warming Deniers who are mostly financed by Big Oil.Take a look and see what you think . . .

The Garden Of Allah lyrics - Don Henley

It was pretty big year for fashiona lousy year for rock and rollThe people gave their blessing to crimes of passionIt was a dark, dark night of the collective souland I was somewhere out on Riverside by theEl Royale HotelWhen a stranger appeared in a cloud of smokeI thought I knew him all too well

He said now that I have your attentionI got something I wanna sayYou may not wanna hear it, I'm gonna tell it toyou anywayYou know I've always like you boyCause you were not afraid of meThings are gonna get mighty rough here inGomorrah-by-the-Sea

I said it's just like homeIt's so damn hot I can't stand itMy fine seersucker suit is all soaking wetAnd the hills are burningand the wind is ragingand the clock strikes midnightin the Garden of AllahIn the Garden of Allah

Nice carAh, I love those Bavariansso meticulous. WhyI remember when things were a lotmore fun around hereWhen good was good and evil was evilBefore things got so . . . fuzzy

I was once a golden boy like youI was summoned to the halls of powerin the heavenly courtsI dined with the deities who looked uponme with favor,for my talents, my creativityand we sat beneath the palmsin the warm afternoons and drank the wine

With Fitzgerald and Huxley and they pawnedthe biting phrase from the tongues hot with bloodand drained their pens of bitter inkVainly reaching for the bottle full of empty EdensBranded especially for the ones who had comewith greatexpectations to the perfumed halls of Allah,for their time in the sun

And we were stokin' the fires and oilin'up the machineryUntil the Gods found out we had ideas of our ownAnd war was coming and the Earth was shakingand there was no more ruin in the Garden of Allah

Today I made an appearance downtownI am an expert witness because I say I am And I said gentlemen, and I use that world looselyI will testify for you,I'm a gun for hire,I'm a saint, I'm a liarBecause there are no facts, there is no truth

Just data to be manipulatedI can get you any result you like What's it worth to you?Because there is no wrong, there is no rightAnd I sleep very well at nightNo shame, no solution, no remorse, no retributionJust people selling t-shirtsJust opportunity to participatein this pathetic littlecircus and winning, winning, winning

It was pretty big year for predatorsThe marketplace was on a rolland the land of opportunityspawned a whole new breed of men without soulsThis year notoriety got all confused with fameand the devil is downhearted babe, causethere's nothing left for him to claim

He said it's just like homeIt's so low-down I can't stand itI guess my work around here has all been done

And the fruit is rotten, the serpent's eyes shineas he wraps around the vine,in the Garden of Allah

BTW: In case you didn't pick up on it,"The Garden Of Allah"is a metaphor for the Garden of Eden

Monday, November 12, 2007

The biggest contributor to the lack of leadership is the WAY that we elect our "representatives."

If we were to institute total public financing for all elections, we would vastly diminish the ability of the BIGS (Big Oil, Big Pharma, etc.) to buy the candidate of THEIR choice.

The second thing we could do is eliminate 90% of the "Executive Privilege" that allows corrupt administrations like this one to hide things like our national Energy Plan from the public...the people it affects!

The candidates will spend, in all, over one billion dollars to get elected next year.

It's a $400,000/year job! With 8 years in office that amounts to $3,200,000.

They certainly aren't in it for the money.

So, why do they do it?

POWER! Any candidate that says they are looking for public service is full of s**t.

They want power and that power SHOULD be coming from "We The People!"

But it's not.

Until we can put an end to the corruption of money by the BIGS and K street, we will continue to lose our country to evil people like Bush/Cheney.

Can you imagine Guliani being willing to give up any of the powers that our Idiot-in-Chief has usurped?

The only ones that might actually DO SOMETHING about this disparity have been effectively sidelined because they don't have the same access to the BIGS as the "mainstream" candidates.

Perhaps a third party IS the way to go.

BUT...think about this.1. A Republican Senate by 1 vote2. A Democratic House by 30 votes.3. An Independent Prez and VP.

Can you say GRIDLOCK?

I don't know the answer...but I'm beginning to understand the question.

We should all look at the truth of the situation and try to come up with a realistic answer while we still are "We The People."

My response is copied below. Boy! Sometimes these people steam me. Why didn't she do something about this on her own instead of whining on the internet!

Rep Slaughter,Thank you for caring about our troops.

But I have a couple of questions for you.

You say you first learned about this over a year ago.

How many of our kids do you think have died since then due to crappy body armor?

You say that the press hasn't picked up on this. Well, I read about it two years ago when the makers of "Dragon Skin" body armor conducted tests against the standard issue crap and proved that they had a better product.

I wrote to my congress people. I wrote letters to the editor. I forwarded the article to everyone I knew and posted it on every web site that I thought might do some good.

Sunday, November 4, 2007

Why do you suppose these morons in Congress haven't changed to "powers" that Bush got (or assumed) after 9/11?Could it be that they are afraid that they will be unable to rein him in?Or, could it be that they want to keep him "hanging out there" to be an easier punching bag for the Democrats?Either way, "We the People" are getting pretty short shrift from our supposed Representatives.I don't know the answer. But I know that we, in this country, are on an "Edge" of some sort that we can't fully comprehend.And our choices appear to be Hillary and Rudy!

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

NOTICE! The purpose of this article will be to provide a place where those interested can discuss ideas about what can be done to reform our system of governance. It is NOT an attempt to subvert the Constitution! Any posts that call for violence or overthrow of the Government will be deleted by the moderator. My sole purpose is to put forth some ideas about what can be done to reform our current system of electing officials and the conditions that they should observe as they SERVE the public interests.One last comment/request: Please be civil to each other and try to use language that wouldn't cause your Mother to blush.

I'll start off... it's my blog after all! ;-)

Term Limits:The current system makes it almost impossible to defeat an incumbent public servant. We have all seen too many that have been in their positions far too long to be any good to anyone but themselves. I would submit a suggestion that two terms in office should be enough for anyone. This would bring in fresh blood and get some of those unfit for leadership roles out of their positions.I would also suggest that the length of each office be modified for many reasons. Why not make Congressional seats last for 4 years, in the Senate perhaps 8 years. I think Supreme Court Justices should have a 10 year limit and the President one six year term.

Here are some other things that I think are worth discussing:

(I'll be posting MY opinion on each of these topics shortly. Meanwhile, have at em!)

Public Financing of Elections.If every candidate was given the same amount of money to run their bid for office, it would take away the current practice of "Buying" office. When someone like Hillary Clinton raises 50 million dollars and Dennis Kucinich raises 5 million does that mean she's a "better" candidate? Or does it mean that she's better at raising cash?We already have campaign finacing laws that grant money to certain candidates that meet specific conditions. Why not just say to the top 10 candidates "OK, here's 10 million dollars. Go out and run your show. But you can't take ANY goods and services from anyone else!" Sure it's a "rough" idea, but my goal here is to stimulate conversation.

Lobbyist not allow to hire former member of Congress for 10 years after they leave office.Actually, I think if I could get my fondest wish it would be to do away with Lobbyist all together! But, that's probably not going to happen, so one way to limit their effect would be to stop this revolving door of people leaving Congress and then selling their knowledge of how to work the system to the highest bidder.

Lobbyist limited to $1,000/Senator or Congressman per year.I really think this would be a good idea. If lobbyist and PAC had to limit their spending to only 1,000 dollars per yearper congress member we would see a lot less corruption in Congress. But the rules would have to be set up so as to be enforceable and airtight otherwise these groups would find loopholes big enough to drive a tank thru. My first thought on this idea was One Hundred dollars, but I don't think that's reasonable. What do you think?

Signing Statements by every congress member and senator that they have fully read and understood every piece of law that they vote on.There should never be a time when some member of Congress could claim that they voted for a law that they hadn't read or didn't understand. If they didn't read the law, why did they vote for it? And, if they didn't understand the law, then how can they expect the average citizen to understand it?

Breaking up of Media "Gangs."There are, in my opinion, too many "Media Conglomerates." Yes, I'm talking about Rupert Murdoch, but he's not the only one. I don't think it's healthy for a Democacy to have so much power in one person (or groups) hands. Murdoch has already admitted that he actively tried to shape opinion in this country. He's just one man. Sure he's rich but so is Bill Gates and you don't see him pushing his political views on people.

Flat percentage of income tax for everyone.I'm not sure about this one. It just seems to me that if everone had to pay a flat percentage of their income, it would be a lot more fair than it is now. People with a lot of money SHOULD pay a LOT of taxes. 10 per cent of my income would be a hit that I could live with if everybody kicked in the same. What is RIGHT about stock brokers making 50 million dollars a year and not paying taxes on it because he gets a break from the likes of Bush. Sorry, in my book that does not compute.